Infection of the uterus, or pyometra, is a relatively common condition that can affect unspayed cats, and it can be deadly if left untreated. Learn how to prevent and recognize this disease condition. READ MORE

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A U.K. based study found a whopping 560% rise in Lyme disease in the last six years, and a U.S. study published earlier this year shows a 320% increase since the 1990s in tick populations that carry the disease. Why is this happening?READ MORE

Facebook did some research to get to the bottom of the social characteristics of both cat lovers and dog devotees. What they found out may surprise some who thought the stereotypes were true. READ MORE

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petMD Blogs

The Daily Vet is a blog featuring veterinarians from all walks of life. Every week they will tackle entertaining, interesting, and sometimes difficult topics in the world of animal medicine – all in the hopes that their unique insights and personal experiences will help you to understand your pets.

How Dogs Experience the World: Part 1

Many dogs have characteristics that make them seem almost human at times, but they experience the world in a very different way than we do. Understanding their unique point of view helps make a person’s relationship with dogs even more rewarding than it would be otherwise.

The Sense of Smell

A dog’s sense of smell is remarkable. In comparison to humans, dogs have over 40 times the number of scent receptors in their noses, and a large proportion of the canine brain is dedicated to decoding what they smell. Scientists estimate that the canine sense of smell is anywhere between 40 and one million times stronger than ours, depending on the breed and the type of odor tested. Remember this the next time you are out for a walk. Try to be patient while your dog endlessly sniffs the same patch of ground. Who knows what type of information he is gathering?

One of the more fascinating ways that the canine nose is being put to use to benefit people is in the detection of some types of human cancer. For example, a study published in England tested whether dogs were able to determine if bladder cancer was present by sniffing samples of urine. Overall, they did a very good job, but most interestingly, the dogs kept insisting that one of the samples was positive for cancer while the researchers were sure it was not. Finally, the patient was retested and the doctors, not the dogs, were wrong.

Eyesight

Dogs have a good sense of sight, but if we could see through their eyes, we would be shocked at how different everything looks. The retina is the tissue at the back of the eye that converts light energy into nerve impulses to be sent to the brain. Cells in the retina called rods are primarily responsible for vision under low light conditions and for the detection of movement. Dogs have a greater number of rods in their retinas in comparison to people.

Dogs also make use of another ocular structure, the tapetum lucidum, to reflect light within the eye. This is also what causes the eyes of some animals to glow when light shines into them in just the right way. More rods and the tapetum lucidum allow dogs to see in dim light and pick out a moving object much better than we can.

Trade-offs are the name of the game in nature, however. The canine investment in rods comes at a cost: fewer cones — the retinal cells that are involved in color vision and the ability to see fine detail. Dogs are not completely color blind, but studies show they have difficulty differentiating between greens, yellow-greens, oranges, and reds; and greenish-blue colors probably appear grey to dogs. Also, canine eyes are set farther apart than are human eyes, so dogs have better peripheral vision but poorer depth perception than we do.

The standard for human vision is 20/20, but most dogs seem to be limited to about 20/75. To get an idea of what this means, stand 75 feet away from an object. For your dog to see it as well as you do, he would have to be only 20 feet away. Consequently, if you need to get your dog’s attention from a distance, don’t just stand still, try waving your arms, moving back and forth, or calling out his name.

Comments 10

As a cat slave, it may seem odd that I have a comment on this but I do. Sometimes I walk my neighbors' dog and when I do, we take our time as long as the weather isn't terrible. I understand a dog's need and desire to check his "pee mail" and am happy to linger. I am saddened by a sight I see nearly every day in my neighborhood, people not so much walking but dragging their dogs much faster than the dogs want to go, much too fast for them to stop and smell the roses or whatever has piqued their interest. Poor dogs.

Sorry to stray from the topic but I want to ask if others who subscribe to Dr Coates' blog via email get her posts inconsistently, as I've done for over a year? Some days I get duplicates and other days, none. Today I did not get the email (and it's not in my spam folder.)

I also rec'd 15 copies of the same email this morning. and my emails are occasionally inconsistent. However this has happened in the past and I unsubscribe, then wait about 8 hours and resubscribe and it seems to get it all back on track for at least another 6 months....I do love the info and emails....

Please be aware that -- besides occasional duplicates -- Fully Vetted daily emails also do not arrive at all on some days. I received none yesterday or today. This is an ongoing, arbitrary occurrence with no evident pattern.

I hadn't heard of the urine sniffing dogs, but did see an article on some TV news show about a dog that could sniff people and detect cancer.

The owner asked a friend to let the dog sniff and (after much cajoling) the friend laid on the floor and let the dog sniff. The dog indicated cancer so the guy went to the doctor - who promptly didn't find anything.

After much more cajoling, the dog again indicated cancer. The friend's doctor again didn't find anything.

I think this happened 3 or 4 times. It turned out the friend really did have cancer. It just took awhile for modern medicine to find a tiny spot that had finally grown large enough to be found... that the dog found before modern medicine.

Re: Emails. I'm having the same problem. I didn't get one for today at all.